PROJECT359 Interviews Wim
24-09-2005
Wim Interview - 24th September 2005
How long has the band been together?
"Wim is a one man band, but I have been doing music on and off since I was a teenager. "
Where did the band name come from?
"Wim is taken from the roleplaying game Ecalision that some friends of mine developed. Wim is an imaginary land where all can happen."
Tells us a little bit about each band member.
"Wim is Ketil Lien, born and raised in Trondheim, Norway. 33 winters old and living with Anita."
How and when did you first become involved in music?
"I made my first song on a casio single touch keyboard when I was about 13 years. Performing it for my class, they liked it and that became inspiration enough to pursue the hobby. I bought my first computer when I was nineteen along with my first synth Kawai K11. I then used a sequencer program called cakewalk from twelve tone systems and I worked with General Midi only. In those times you had to have alot of money to be on top of things, because it was all about expensive hardware. Being a poor student I soon gave up the hole thing, until the software revolution blew me back in a few years ago. Now I make enough money, and can afford to buy my instruments as VSTIs."
What’s your inspiration for writing songs?
"I play alot of roleplaying games and have been doing so for 15 years. In those different games its all about fantasy realms and creatures, strange magicians and ancient trolls. Very much like Lord of The Rings, and you could say that Wim is pretty similar to Middle Earth. Alot of my inspiration comes from those games.
I also get inspired by awesome nature landscapes and offcourse other artists that I admire give alot of inspiration to me."
Who would you say are your biggest influences and why?
"My biggest influence is definately Jean Michel Jarre. I found out in my teens that I had a soft spot for synth music, and when I started my search for artists performing such music, one man in particular came out as a king. I started collecting his music, and today I have everything published by him. I would like to mention that Vangelis is a very strong runner up here. If Jarre is the king, Vangelis is definately the prince."
What equipment/software do you use?
"My studio is actually quite small, thanx to all my software. I have a Dell Dimension computer. M-Audio Audiophile USB audio/midi soundcard. I use my old Kawai K11 as midi keyboard. My VST host programme or sequencer is Orion Platinum. I have numerous software instruments. Those I use the most are: Atmosphere, Albino2, M42, Absynth2, z3ta and FM7."
What is the one piece of equipment/software that you couldn’t live without and why?
"I could not write music without my computer, its infront of that screen I learned it all, all by myself, and I don`t know of another way to compose music."
Do you perform live, if so, where can we find you?
"I have never performed Live, and its going to be difficult to do so unless I have a big label sponsoring it all. Its not interesting to look at a guy staring at a computer. If I was to play Live I would need to have several musicians and a spectacular lightshow, and last time I checked that costs money. But its a dream offcourse to perform Live."
Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
"My hope is to get signed to a known label that are willing to promote my music to the world, I also hope some of my tracks can find the way into tv/film. But that is all dreams really. To be honest I see myself right here where I am in the next years to come. Music is more like a hobby for me. But if it happens, I`m gonna jump on that train. "
What advice would you give to new musicians that are just starting out?
"Have fun producing music, have it as your hobby and don`t think about deals and money. If your music is good enough you will be discovered anyway."
Is your music available to purchase? If so, do you have a link to your store?
"No, not yet, but it will. For now its all for free. Download and enjoy."
Visit Wim's Mixposure pages: http://www.mixposure.com/wim